Flatbed Rebuild

[Highridge]

Flatbed Rebuild Pic Thread

After being inspired by BigRigTech's thread on his dumpbed, I figured I'd post some pics of my rebuild. My original bed was rusting out so I got a great deal on this dumping flatbed. First I painted every bit of the frame with SEM Rust Sheild paint(You can see the trucks frame in the pics). I just put the flatbed on this weekend and hooked up the hydraulics. Next step is to add some diamond plate to the rear where I can mount my grommet LEDs. Then a new drivers side fender and door and then new paint but with a silver two-tone. I'll be updating this thread as I go with some pics of course, lol.

 

[BigRigTech]

Looks good and that's a hefty looking cylinder, mine is gettting there too - I started to apply some paint today....The hinges are going on tommorow night (assuming my buddy is over his cold) so it should be operational Wednesday.

 

[Highridge]

Thanks
Yea the cylinder looks like the one on my buddy's F450 dumptruck. It's actualy bent the steel beam it connects to so I'll have to get that reinforced. I'm interested in how your hinges come out. Mine seem to have some play in them, probably from being used a lot.

 

[BigRigTech]

My hinges are home fabricated....Cut from 1/2" x 4" flat bar. The pivot rod is a schedule 80 one inch ID pipe for a wearable item - the strength is from a 15/16" piece of cold rolled round bar slide through it...As the pipe wears from use you can pull it out and replace it with a new piece. The round stock never wears in this design. My cousin called in a favour from the welding company he deals with daily so I could get some clean 1-5/16" holes cut in the hinge pieces. Cut with a plasma machine of some kind - very clean job. Hopefully I will have some pics for you to see tommorow night.

 

[Highridge]

Heres a shot of the back right now and then my preliminary sketch of what I want it to look like. I have all the lights just need to get the steel.

 

[BigRigTech]

I feel your pain, mine looks 100% better with the pintle plate and new crossmembers to finish the rear of the box....The hinges are done - we have a dumper...

 

[Highridge]

Update - replaced the cracked and warped plywood deck with some nice pressure treated 2x6s. Looks a lot nicer and its stronger than the 3/4" plywood that it came with. I also sprayed every peice of metal under the bed with my leftover SEM Rust Sheild. Next step is to get some diamond plate to mount the rear lights and I'm also going to build a cab protecter that I can mount my lightbar on. I had no idea how much diamond plate is going for these days. A 5x10 sheet of 1/8" is like $250

 

[Highridge]

Heres some new pics. Redid the backrack plus made it stronger and made room for when I put in the sliding rear window. I made some angle iron pockets for the sides so I can remove them when not in use. I also did the tank vent mod so the tank fills up much faster.

 

[BigRigTech]

No need for a vent mod on my filler neck -all 4" of it.......I think I could still get fuel in it with the deck down too in a pinch....Paint is the key - it looks so much better than rust even if the metal is pitted.

 

[Highridge]

You got that right. It kills me to see all the rust spots and different colored metals. I just need to weld a few more things then I can paint it up.

 

[Highridge]

Got a new driver's fender and was lucky to find one with the color scheme I wanted. Now I can just tell the paint shop to match the rest of the truck to the new fender. It's also now a diesel F150 Going to do some welding and paint on the flatbed so more pics to come.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

You got that right. It kills me to see all the rust spots and different colored metals. I just need to weld a few more things then I can paint it up.

I like the dump-flat.

One thing I would change though :

Build some brackets to hold the tool-box in it's present location, except such that it is not connected to the flat, but to the truck-frame.

Thus, when the bed goes up, the tool-box stays, and all the stuff inside doesn't get all dumped around.

 

[Diesel_brad]

Looks good but you DO NOT Want a sliding rear window! If there is even a trace of dirt left in the bed when you open that window WOOOOOOSH.. It is in the cab, and all over you

 

[88beast]

brad thats y its a dump lol it will all fall off or do as i do open it after the stuff has blown away

 

[Diesel_brad]

brad thats y its a dump lol it will all fall off or do as i do open it after the stuff has blown away

yeah. To bad dirt lingers. ANY trace if dust or dirt blows right in the cab